Only in the Czech Republic is the cost per kw/hour higher in terms of PPP than in Portugal. Although the Czechs have an average monthly net income of 745 euros, the monthly effort rate to pay electricity bills is lower (at eight percent) than in Portugal (nine percent), where the average monthly income is 1057 euros.
The figures were tallied up by Energy-Control Austria, the Hungarian energy regulator and the VaasaETT Global Energy institute.
Looking at a breakdown in pricing, the weight of taxes on electricity becomes evident.
In Portugal, more than half the cost of electricity is made up of taxes, a fact that warrants the debate for an eventual reduction of the tax charged on electricity in the State Budget for 2019.
And while there was no formal announcement, this past Sunday Portuguese politician, lawyer and commentator Luís Marques Mendes told national broadcaster SIC that the next Budget will bring a drop in the VAT charged on electricity.
“It is not known whether it will fall to 13 or six percent”, Marques Mendes said.
Pressure has been also applied for a reduction of the tax by the Left Bloc and PCP coalition partners. Two weeks ago Eurostat put Portugal in third place in terms of EU countries with the most expensive electricity and gas in 2017.
It was the first time that the European statistics service published electricity prices that were totally comparable across countries, calculating the weighted average price.
However, the comparison lacked data from Germany, Spain, Italy and Cyprus.